The Weasels have kidnapped Pluto while he was wearing his diamond
collar! All that was left of him was a ransom note showing the Weasels
driving him away in a van. Mickey rounds up all of his friends (and
even Pete wants to get in on the action!), and Professor Von Drake
soups up their race cars so that they can catch up with the Weasels as
they go on a cross-country tour of the United States. The Weasels have
also stolen four parts of the Professor's top-secret racer, and hidden
them in four of the tracks. Once players find all these pieces, they
can catch up with the Weasels in the final showdown.
Mickey's Speedway USA is a kart racer from Rare based on the Diddy Kong Racing
game engine. Players compete in circuits of four races, grand prix
style, and the player with the most points at the end of all four races
wins the gold trophy. There are six initial racers, but only three sets
of stats shared between them. Minnie and Daisy are lightweight and good
for beginners, Mickey and Donald are both all-around characters, while
Pete and Goofy are the slow but fast heavyweights.
The game has
an assortment of pickups - there's the Carbo Spritzer, a soda-powered
turbo; the Paint Splotcher, which launches a slippery blob of paint
onto the track; the Baseball Chucker, which launches an explosive
baseball onto the track; and the Magno Flyer, which sends a remote
control plane to seek the nearest opponent, to name a few. There are
also 'Oomph Tokens' scattered on the track - the first ten of these
tokens increase your racer's maximum speed a little.
As well as
the main game, Mickey's Speedway USA also features a Time Trial mode
(where you race against the clock), a Practice mode (where you can
drive all around a farmyard course to practice your skills), and
Contest mode (which functions like the famous Battle Mode in Mario Kart 64
- players must pop their opponents' three balloons before they lose all
of their own). The game is also Transfer Pak compatible with the Game
Boy Color version of Mickey's Speedway USA.